it was time for the last night of deer creek, before moving out west to alpine valley. after a very strong first night, everyone was expecting more of the same, and we got it...

loving cup: i've grown very weary of this song in the encore slot, but i really liked it here. especially since i was still in the parking lot polishing off a rogue 22. this got me hustling through the gates.

cities: aw... safely in my pavillion seat for this talking heads classic. quick but nifty little funk jam that works smoothly into

gbott: pretty standard version but it worked well coming out of cities

vultures: i love this tune, and it was played oh so well.

mmgamoio: great phish bluegrass cover. gordon sounded good on this one.

dwd: here we go... i was certain this was going to pop up as a 2nd set opener over the next 4 nights. like loving cup, i was not surprised they played, just when they played it. as for this take on dwd, it was very strong, especially for a first setter. trey really knocked this one out of the park before landing in...

rock and roll: very nice pairing. they didn't do anything too crazy with rock and roll here, but it worked as a great set closer. page hit his high note.

set 2:

tube: this is the best tube i have ever seen. gordon and fishman were on fire in the middle section. trey also lit it up. i had not seen tube since deer creek 2000. this song is so much better when trey stays on the guitar and off that mini keyboard. he had some really hot licks too. did mention gordon and fishman really drove this one. oh yeah, trey seemed to really hammer home the bluesy bring it back into tube guitar lick after the jam. very good and it dropped into...

run like an antelope: this was a pretty sharp high energy antelope. they danced through the intro part and when this one broke they really cut loose. the crowd needed a breather after this one.

wedge: score! good second set "breather" tune. well executed

timber ho!: getty up! excellent timber ho!. i was actually with a bunch of people that had never caught this song, and they longed for it. it made it a little extra spiffy, as if timber ho! is not spiffy enough. fishman and trey really hammered this one down.

prince caspian: i hate this song, but after such a hot start, i took this opportunity to burn a quick one, right in time to hear them move into...

simple: fishman, again, was a monster on this one. i really liked the "peter out" jam on this version. the moved the tempo around with ease, and they sounded really nice and tight, similar to the bt gin the night before. it finally worked its way into...

wotc: i was not a huge fan of this song until i heard this version. as they moved into the jam portion, they explored the wotc theme for a couple of minutes before they shifted into familiar territory. while staying in the key of wotc they were playing the ending to dwd. it was a very cool way to end the deer creek run.

enc:

coil: cant boo coil. it may not be a super unique selection, but i love ending a run with page alone on the stage. ALL HAIL PAGE!

overall:
I thought this two night run was very similar to the 98 deer creek. both nights were really strong on all fronts, and it is tough say which one is best. also, they did without playing the typical big guns, ghost, tweezer, yem, and mike's song. very fun time. while i thought the 2nd night of alpine was the best show of the midwest run, i think, all in all, i like the deer creek run, as a whole a touch more.

No reviews on this one yet, huh? Well, its probably because the full-wrath of Trey's narco-indulgence was very apparent on this evening. While the precious Vultures was a royal treat at Deer Creek, DWD>R&R, too, this show highlighted the fact that things were most definitely not well with the band and its cohesion. Tube, while a rager, was filled with Trey's (sometimes) senseless 'chord-wails' (As I like to refer to them) and little improvisational input. I'm not undermining this jam...its funky, spacey, sci-fi goodness, but the night's highlights were definitely down-played by their very low-lights. Simple was great. I guess all I can say is that during this tour, Gordo truly bails the band out of sooooo many rough spots due to Trey's patchy inability to contribute to the unique musical language of Phish. This show demonstrates this in full-color.

I had just seen Trey at Bonnaroo a week or 2 before this show. I was disappointed in this when compared to the Trey Show. Going back with the ears of time I have realized this show holds up. It may have been what I thought was the 1 and only time I'd see phish, but it wasn't as disappointing as I originally thought. I regret ignoring their return in 09 and not going back to a show until 12. Had I been in a better mindset this would have probably been a better show. It wasn't you it was me.

I went to both shows again, this time not having to drive either night. I had two different people drive both nights and to make things even better, we found a short cut to the venue the second night that took 20 to 30 minutes off the trip. Once again, two great nights at Deer Creek. Enjoyed both nights ecspecially the second starting off with Loving Cup. One of my favorite songs (usually a oncore) that I thought was great. Phish get better and better as time goes on.

Loving Cup is a very interesting choice to open. Cities is pretty top notch. The segue into BOTT is very VERY good. Vultures is solid. DWD starts out rough, but it drifts off into a nice mellow groove with Trey hacking away. It has a nice little conclusion by Trey. The segue into Rock and Roll is almost perfect, Trey looses cohesiveness and steam and it's slightly off, which is a shame because it's almost perfect.

Tube starts set 2 very hot and a rare jam occurs as it gets stretched out, it's a filthy funky jam led by Mike. Antelope is intense and destructive and has a little stretch to it. Wedge is very solid. Caspian is pretty strong, the disease outro is sloppy out of Walls of the cave.

I have made many blunders in my life but none will haunt me like my first Phish show experiences. I had the opportunity to hit both nights but missed the fist night by selling my tickets for some money to buy party favors. When trying to reflect on my show experiences from back then i wasnt sure which of the two nights i actually hit but after talking to some friends about that time it became clear that i thought i had hit the first night and sold my ticket for the second but what i did was sell my ticket away in the lot before the show on the first night because "i was going to see them tomorrow anyway" oh how foolish i was. It has seemed like such a tarnish on my record but over time i have come to accept the fact that i started on the wrong foot but have done everything in my power since to right this so called wrong. I cant really recall any specific details of how the show went due to me mainly focusing on the fact that i was alone at a show were everyone seemed to be in on a secret i hadnt been told. If you learn anything from me and my story i would hope that it would be that even if we start with a stumble it only takes time to regain ones footing.

Also disregard my review of 6/23/2004 because although i though for a time that was my first show i was wrong and any memory of that show was garnered from listening to recordings

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